


When the Wolves Howl

by snaeken



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, thiammovieaufest
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-12
Updated: 2018-01-12
Packaged: 2019-03-03 07:10:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13336071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snaeken/pseuds/snaeken
Summary: The year is 1983, and Liam Dunbar has recently moved to the rural village of Beacon Hills. It's supposed to be a fresh start for him and his parents, away from the hustle and bustle of city life. However, Liam soon discovers that dark secrets are being kept by the village and its residents, ones that leave more questions than answers. As the annual festival approaches, he begins to unravel the mysteries of Beacon Hills with shocking results. Liam comes to realise that none of his new friends are what they seem, and that the only person he can trust is himself...A When They Cry AU for thiammovieaufest





	When the Wolves Howl

**Author's Note:**

> Warning in advance that this is gonna be dark. Like, super dark.

**Beacon Hills - June 2013**

 

The gates are already open when Parrish arrives. Stilinski must already be here, then. Typical Stilinski; Parrish is almost half an hour early, and the old bastard still beat him here.

He stops at the gates and gets out of his police cruiser, closing his eyes and inhaling deeply through his nose. It’s just as he remembers, the air is so pure here compared to in the city. There’s a slight breeze which causes the trees to rustle, but apart from that, total silence. Even after all this time, the wild animals have never returned.

He examines the police tape, battered by the weather but still mostly intact bar a single tear, ‘CONTAMINATION OUTBREAK AREA - DO NOT ENTER’ still legible despite being faded by the sun. The tear is clean and it looks recent, presumably done by Stilinski. Parrish a roll of the tape in his glove compartment, he’ll replace it when they leave. From what he can see so far, nobody has entered since they last met up here five years ago. _Good._

He gets back in his cruiser, wiping the sweat from his brows. He takes in the state of the town as he drives on. It somehow looks both better and worse with every visit, and this fact never fails to surprise him. The buildings are more dilapidated, walls crumbling and roofs missing where he’s sure he remembers them before, greenery shooting up and weaving itself throughout them. He wonders how long it will be before nature reclaims the land completely, until the only evidence of Beacon Hills is in archived tape footage and unsolved case files. If they keep up their five yearly visits, Parrish will only have about half a dozen visits left in his lifetime. Will Mother Nature work her magic faster than his body will decay? A ghost of a smile blooms on his lips, a tinge of excitement over the thought of his wager with time itself.

 

Parrish sees a car parked up ahead and draws up alongside it. He gets out and walks over to the wooden bus stop, their designated meeting place. It’s a miracle the thing is still in one piece after all this time.

He looks inside and Stilinski is sitting on the bench, along with a younger man. Well, younger than Parrish, anyway. When he sees Parrish, Stilinski struggles to his feet, using a cane to lever himself up. _That’s new._

“It’s good to see you again, Stilinski,” Parrish grins, shaking his hand.

“Same to you, Parrish, same to you. And this is Corey Bryant,” Stilinski says, motioning to the other man who has now also stood up. Parrish’s eyes widen in surprise but he quickly schools his expression.

“Nice to meet you again, Mr Bryant,” Parrish shakes his hand.

“Corey’s fine,” he says, and that’s all the introduction necessary. _Sole survivor_  goes unsaid.

“Right, let’s walk and talk. I’m not getting any younger,” Stilinski calls over his shoulder as he abruptly leaves the bus stop. Parrish and Corey share a smile before following him.

 

“Thirty years already,” Stilinski tuts and shakes his head. “How time flies.”

Parrish could laugh at the clichéd statement, if only it weren’t so true. As he’s gotten older, more and more the days seem to just blend together, weeks and even months passing him by in a blur. He’s had a few unsolved cases in his career, as much as it chagrins him to admit it, but none have ever been quite so baffling as Beacon Hills.

 

Parrish looks appraisingly at the wedding band on Corey’s finger, subconsciously rubbing the spot where his own used to be.

“So how long have you been married?” Parrish asks him.

Corey breaks into a genuine, open smile. “Eight years past in March. Mason’s an absolute saint; he’s put up with me for a lot longer than most people would. We could’ve been married for over a decade by now, to be honest, but it’s taken me a long time to deal with everything that’s happened. I’ve told him who I am, where I’m from, and he’s been nothing but supportive. I can honestly say these have been the happiest years of my life.”

He looks like he’s about to continue, but then the smile drops from his face and he stops dead in his tracks.

“Are you okay?” Parrish asks, and Stilinski turns around to see what’s wrong.

“This- This was my house.”

It’s much in the same state as the rest of Beacon Hills, overgrown and sorely neglected, but the roof is still intact.

“Do you want to go in?” Stilinski asks him, and Corey looks genuinely torn. Parrish can only sympathise, can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like, coming back to this place when you used to live here. It’s been bad enough for him, and he barely had any connection to the town before the disaster.

“I… I’ll take a look.” He wrestles with the rusted front gate for a moment, grimacing when it shrieks open.

“We’re going to the lake, okay? Join us when you’re ready.” Parrish claps him on the shoulder and Corey nods, then clambers over the weeds and to the front door.

 

As Parrish and Stilinski walk on ahead they pass where the school was, the only building in Beacon Hills which was actively demolished. Parrish shudders involuntarily at the thought of it. When he closes his eyes he can see where the bodies were, piled up on top of one another in the school for easy collection.

“Come on, let’s keep moving,” Stilinski says, sensing his discomfort.

 

They reach their destination and both sigh, looking to where the iron bridge should have been for access to the island. The bridge’s collapse was the one and only thing they had solid proof of human involvement in the disaster. They’d had to bring in a helicopter to get access to the island and check it for bodies. There had only been one there, but the pictures had been enough to haunt Parrish’s dreams for many years. He just can’t imagine who would want to kill someone in that way, let alone a teenage girl.

 

Stilinski starts to cough, a loud, racking thing, shattering the silence around them to pieces. Parrish pats him on the back and that momentarily seems to make it worse, but soon the coughing subsides and Stilinski is left panting and wheezing. He grips onto the railing with his free hand and it groans precariously.

“Lung cancer,” he says when he has his breath back, anticipating Parrish’s question. “I don’t have long left, there’s nothing more they can do for me. Looks like all that smoking’s done some harm, after all,” he chuckles morosely. Parrish doesn’t say anything, knows Stilinski won’t want him to.

 

Parrish can hear footsteps coming up behind him, and a quick glance confirms it’s Corey. His eyes are rimmed red and he’s got a small pile of belongings in his arms.

“Am I able to take these with me?” he asks nervously.

“Of course, I doubt they’re carrying any sort of infection,” Parrish says. Then, a bit more cynically, “even if the internet says differently.”

Stilinski scoffs, eyes watering slightly as he forces down a cough. “Please tell me you don’t read those ridiculous conspiracy theory posts; they’re all just a load of whimsical bullshit as far as I’m concerned.”

“I’ll admit I’ve looked at them, but they just put me in a bad mood.”

“There’s hope for you yet, Parrish. And Corey, it’s not as if the concrete could do anything if the water was really contaminated, anyway.”

“Concrete?” Corey asks.

Parrish motions for Corey to come forwards and look over the edge of the cliff, and he gasps when he looks down over the railings.

“I never knew they did this,” Corey says, voice barely above a whisper.

There’s a sea of concrete in place of where the lake once was. Shortly after the disaster, all the water was industrially drained from the lake and it was filled with concrete, supposedly a way to contain the unknown pathogen which killed everyone. However, scientists have since proven that it would have no effect if it was really a biological outbreak. It just adds yet another layer to the mystery that is Beacon Hills.

 

“I don’t have many regrets in my life,” Stilinski sighs as he adjusts his grip on his cane. “The first is not being able to help Claudia when she was sick; the second is-” He has to stop for a moment, try to swallow down the lump in his throat. “The second is never finding Stiles. I know he’s dead, I can feel it. But never finding his body…” His voice wavers and he turns away for a few moments, breathing in and out deeply. “The third is never finding out what happened in this town. It just doesn’t make sense. Natural disaster my ass; how does the entire population of a town just die in one night?”

 

“My biggest regret, hands down, is Lydia Martin.” Parrish looks down to the sea of concrete, forces himself to say the words he’s been swallowing for thirty years. “She warned me.”

“She what?” Corey asks, shocked. Stilinski looks equally surprised.

“Do you remember the summer of ‘78, when the mayor’s grandson was kidnapped?” Parrish asks Stilinski, who nods. “That was the first time I came to Beacon Hills; the first time I met Lydia Martin. That was the year before it all began, how could I possibly have known… She showed me where the shrine was and she broke down, crying that she didn’t want to die. She composed herself quickly and I just brushed her off as a silly little girl, imagination going wild because a boy that she knew was missing. I should have taken her seriously though. If I had just listened to her then she might still be alive. They might all be.”

 

“I should have been here with them, I shouldn’t have left early,” Corey mutters. “Lydia was one of my best friends. I wish I could have saved her from that, at least…”

Stilinski hums contemplatively. “Even so, the Dunbar boy-”

“Don’t,” Corey snaps, and Stilinski and Parrish both look at him. “Sorry,” he sighs. “Can we not speak about him, please?”

“Of course, of course. Still, we all know it’s far too late for ‘what if’s or ‘I could have’s,” Stilinski says, and Parrish and Corey both make sounds of agreement. Even so, it’s impossible to stop that niggling voice in the back of your mind, reminding you of all the things you thought were a bit unusual at the time but never really thought anything about.

“And would you be so kind as to remind us where you went again, Corey?” Parrish asks teasingly, hoping to lighten the mood.

Corey rolls his eyes, a gesture which looks surprisingly childlike. He smiles when he realises Parrish is only joking, but answers anyway.

“I went to the club in Beacon Heights to meet up with a boy. We were in the back alley and got caught, he ran, and I couldn’t get my jeans up fast enough. Ended up spending the night in a cell.”

Stilinski shakes his head in amusement. _Dumb kid_ , he seems to be thinking, despite Corey now being in his forties and married.

“At least I still have dad. Who would’ve thought I’d ever be grateful that my parents got divorced?” Corey chuckles.

 

They stand in silence for a few minutes, smiling softly to themselves. It’s all they can do when words aren’t enough, will never be enough. They can’t console Stilinski over the loss of his son. They can’t console Parrish over the potential warning he received. They can’t console Corey over the loss of his mum and his friends. They can’t console each other over the loss of an entire town for reasons none of them have been able to fathom.

 

“Look,” Stilinski gasps, lifting his cane and pointing it shakily.

Parrish and Corey both follow his gaze, inhaling sharply when they see it - there’s a grey wolf on the island. Even from this distance, Parrish can see the piercing blue of its eyes. Minutes pass as it stares each of them down in turn, as if waiting for them to look away first.

Then as abruptly as it appeared, it turns and pads away, disappearing back into the island.

 

***

 

Three days later, Parrish received the call informing him that Stilinski had passed away.

He went to his local bar and bought a whiskey, raising the glass in a silent salute.

_Rest in peace, Stilinski. God knows you deserve it. Hopefully you’ve been reunited with Stiles and Claudia. You all have a lot of catching up to do. I’ll keep searching for him down here, and I’ll keep investigating the disaster. Just know that I’ll never give up, not until my dying day._

_I will find out what happened to Beacon Hills in June 1983…_


End file.
